I was under the impression that people stopped using handwritten letters back in the mid-1990s.

Apparently Jim Fassel still does.

The former New York Giants head coach has expressed his interest in coaching the Raiders by sending Al Davis the aforementioned handwritten letter. Some may say this indicates desperation on the part of Fassel. However, there is just the slightest chance that Fassel may be the ideal fit for Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders.

Fassel had a respectable record in New York going 58-53-1 (thatís right Donovan McNabb, ties can indeed happen in football). He most famously took the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2001 and was named NFL coach of the year in 1997.

He has a long standing record of tutoring prominent quarterbacks, most notably John Elway, when he was an assistant at Stanford back in the early 1980s. He also resurrected the career of Kerry Collins while with the Giants.

Given that JaMarcus Russell is the most important component of the Raiders playing staff, this could be a crucial advantage for Fassel.

Critics will point however to Fassel's lack of success with the Baltimore Ravens, where he was offensive coordinator between 2004 and 2006. Fassel was ignominiously fired midway through the 2006 season.

Whether Fassel is the answer to the Raiders ailments or not Al Davis must ask himself one simple question when hiring a new head coach is this: Is the candidate a good leader of men?

The Raiders need strong leadership. Free agents, high draft picks, West Coast offenses, Wildcat formations are all irrelevant without strong leadership. It is this quality that has been lacking in Oakland since the departure of John Gruden .

If Fassel can demonstrate the requisite leadership qualities to Al Davis, then perhaps the Raiders will start to see the light at the end of the very dark black hole.

Harbaugh just signed an extension with Stanford iirc. I dont think he goes to Oakland because he is really making an impact on turning Stanford around and I think he is smart enough to avoid the Raiders. Maybe if they offered him some contract he couldnt say no to would he go.

I like Fassel, and he was one of my choices when the Saints were looking for a HC. I think he could do as much as anyone could in trying to turn around the Raiders.

It's a damn shame the Raiders are in the situation they're in now. They have talent on the team but what they lack is a steady coaching staff. I think, emphasis on the think part, that Fassel could provide that stability. He's an offensive minded coach that also has a somewhat old school mentality. As a former QB he could help tutor JaMarcus Russell into becoming a pro-QB. He's had success before as a HC and his teams made numerous post-season appearances. With a great defensive coordinator working with him (Mike Nolan?) I think that same success could be seen in Oakland.

However, this team still needs quite a bit of work and no coach will ever succeed in Oakland due to the meddling of Al Davis and that's a ******* shame. No matter my hate, disdain, and complete antipathy for the Raiders organization it still is a travesty what is happening there. A storied franchise that has some great old school rivalries should never be put into the kind of situation the Raiders now find themselves in. It's degrading to their fans, to the city, and to the NFL for Davis to still be in charge.

No way in hell Harbaugh really wants to coach in Oakland. I'm sure he is only using the Raiders to get his name in the media so he gets a new contract/more money at Stanford and it looks like it worked. Al Davis will not have many options to pick a Head Coach this off-season and its his own fault.

Jim wants it because it might be the only job he can get for some reason. Somehow Norv Turner keeps getting jobs but Jim can't. Plus his son is already on the staff.

Yeah fassel really got himself black listed after he got fired. I am sure at this point he is desperate to get back in the coaching cycle. The longer he stays out the harder it would be to get back in. He really is stuck, going back to the college ranks would pretty much mean he done from the NFL, and would need Pete Carrol type success to be considered again. I always hated Fasshole as our coach, but I do feel bad for him.

Yeah fassel really got himself black listed after he got fired. I am sure at this point he is desperate to get back in the coaching cycle. The longer he stays out the harder it would be to get back in. He really is stuck, going back to the college ranks would pretty much mean he done from the NFL, and would need Pete Carrol type success to be considered again. I always hated Fasshole as our coach, but I do feel bad for him.

Well his good "buddy" Billick really threw him under the bus. Let Fassel take the blame for a bad offense, when they never had a good offense the entire time Billick was there. Minus the one huge year for Lewis, but the QB play was always bad. I hope people aren't holding Baltimore against Jim. Bottomline is Jim has the best resume of most available coaches (Unless Cowher comes back). Coaches who have records like him, get second chances.

Well his good "buddy" Billick really threw him under the bus. Let Fassel take the blame for a bad offense, when they never had a good offense the entire time Billick was there. Minus the one huge year for Lewis, but the QB play was always bad. I hope people aren't holding Baltimore against Jim. Bottomline is Jim has the best resume of most available coaches (Unless Cowher comes back). Coaches who have records like him, get second chances.

Yeah but i wonder what he does in the interviews. I am starting to think he must suck at them. I figured he would get the skins job, and get passed over, and then his alama mater stanford passed him over for Harbaugh too. So maybe it goes beyond stats but more so what people think of him as a coach, not as a person.

Maybe they think the reason for our success was S. Payton and Fox. One came close to the superbowl, and the other made it. So perhaps there may be talk of something regarding his coaching skills that we, as fans, don't know. That's the only thing I can think of.

This is the only way he's ever going to get a serious coaching gig. If he does well with the crappy Raiders another team might offer him a job once Davis eventually fires him. Its like a job interview for him. A very frustrating and well paying one.